Archive for the ‘Hardware’ Category

Dell unleash small Desktop Optiplex 780 USFF

Saturday, December 12th, 2009

Dell Optiplex 780 USFF

Aimed at the business user with space consideration a top priority, Dell have launched the Optiplex 780 USFF (Ultra Small Form Factor). The base on this unit measures a mere 9.4 x 9.4 inches yet the box contains the usual bits and pieces you’d associate with a ‘normal’ sized desktop. The Optiplex 780 USFF also has a neat $624 price tag with customisations and for that you get the following bells and whistles

* Genuine Windows Vista® Home Basic SP1
* Intel® Celeron® 450 (2.2GHz, 512K, 800MHz FSB)
* 1GB DDR3 Non-ECC SDRAM, 1066MHz, (1 DIMM)
* 160GB 2.5 inch SATA 3.0Gb/s
* Integrated Video, Intel® GMA 4500
* Dell USB 2-Button Entry Mouse with Scroll, Black
* Dell USB Entry Keyboard

Of course there’s no optical drive or monitor, but with most workplace installs done over a network and monitors chip as chips, well almost, the 19 inch Dell E190S will set you back $169, for a touch over $800 you get yourself a corporate desktop. As usual with Dell PCs you can ramp the base Optiplex 780 up a touch with a Intel Core 2 Duo E7500 (2.93GHz) powered unit with 2 GB memory, 320 GB HDD and 8X DVD+/-RW SATA optical drive costing $902. Not bad if you’re looking for something compact for your office workstations.

Source: Dell

Highpoint launch Rocket 600 SATA PCI Express cards

Monday, November 2nd, 2009

Highpoint Rocket 600 SATA PCI Express cards

Looking to unleash the speed of SSD drives without upgrading your motherboard and you have a PCI-Express slot available? Well Highpoint have a couple of PCI Express cards just for you, namely the Rocket 620 and Rocket 622. Both offer SATA 6 Gb/s connectivity to enable you to take advantage of SSDs with transfer speeds of 600 MB/s. The Rockets are also backward compatible with SATA I and II devices allowing you to hook up older, slower drives. Here’s the full list of features and specs on the Highpoint Rocket 620 and 622 SATA III PCI Express cards

* Interfaces SATA 6Gb/s, 3Gb/s and 1.5Gb/s
* Connector Types SATA (620) and eSATA (622)
* Bus Types PCI-Express 2.0 x1
* 600MB/s per (SATA and eSATA) port
* AHCI Compliant
* Supports Native Command Queuing (NCQ)
* Out-of-the-Box Ready for Windows, Linux and Mac OS X 10.6 and above
* Compatible with SATA (III, II, I) Hard Drives and SSD
* Support up to 2TB Hard Drives

According to Electronista these units will be priced at $70 for the 620 and $80 for the 622. Not bad upgrade prices to enable your system to utilise those blistering SSD speeds.

Hannspree HannsNote 10″ laptop

Sunday, August 23rd, 2009

Hannspree HannsNote 10″ laptop
Hannspree have unleashed their latest laptop, the HannsNote, in the USA. US$380 (or US$320 at Amazon) will get you either a Pearl White or Pearl Black version which weighs in at only 2.9 lbs (1.17kg) including a six-cell Li-Ion battery which will last six hours at full charge. Sounds good to you? Well, read on for some more bits and pieces on Hannspree’s lightweight laptop.

* Intel® Atom™ N270 1.6GHz Processor / 512KB Cache / 533MHz FSB
* Windows® XP Home Edition SP3
* 1GB DDR2 (Up to 2GB Max)
* 10 inch 1024 x 600 TFT res LCD display
* Intel GMA 950 Graphics
* Mic & headphone sockets and built-in stereo speakers
* 160GB SATA 2.5″ Internal HDD
* 1.3MP webcam
* 3-in-1 Card Reader: SD/MMC/MS
* 802.11b/g/n, 10/100 LAN, Bluetooth® 2.0 connectivity
* VGA Output, USB 2.0 x3
* 6-Cell Li-Ion Battery (Up to 5 hours of operation with full charge)
* 10.2″ x 1.8″ x 7.1″ (with battery)
* 2.9 lbs. with 6-Cell Battery

An optical drive is optional add-on but that’s the way with all these ultra-portable laptops these days and for portability the HannsNote is difficult to beat. So if you are on the look out for a lightweight laptop then the HannsNote may just be what you are looking for.

Source: Hannspree HannsNote

$300 Compaq laptop at Walmart

Monday, August 3rd, 2009

HP Compaq CQ60-419WM laptop

According to FatWallet, Walmart are offering the HP Compaq CQ60-419WM laptop for only US$300 at their stores only. There’s no indication if the offer has a time limit and the Walmart website states the Compaq is only available in-store giving no pricing details. This offer makes the HP laptop as cheap as a netbook but sporting laptop specs and of course laptop weight. For a full list of details on the Compaq CQ60-419WM read on

* AMD Sempron SI-42 Processor 2.10 GHz with 512Kb L2 Cache
* 3GB Shared Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 800MHz
* 160 GB Hard Drive SATA
* CD/DVD Writer (DVD+/-RW)
* 802.11 b/g WiFi & 10/100Mbps Wired Ethernet
* 15.6″ Diagonal High Definition HP BrightView Display
* Three USB 2.0 ports, headphone and mic jacks, VGA output, 56k Modem and LAN port
* 6 cell battery for up to 4 hours of laptop time
* Vista Home Basic OS
* 9.9″ x 14.88″ x 1.72″
* 9.55 lbs

Along with the $300 price tag all this makes the HP Compaq CQ60-419WM a great purchase and this is backed up by the 21 out of 30 customers who rated this as 5 out of 5 stars on the Walmart site. If you’re on the lookout for a cheap laptop and netbooks are not your thing, then it may well be worth a visit to your local Walmart, but we reckon you should be quick!

Source: FatWallet

Dell Studio 14z laptop

Friday, May 29th, 2009

Dell Studio 14z

Usually a lightweight laptop means sacrificing processor speed, but not with the Studio 14z laptop from Dell. The 14z weighs in at 1.95 kg with the six cell battery option which isn’t bad for a laptop sporting a 14 inch display. Dell have achieved this weight by removing the optical drive, that’s right, there’s no internal DVD or Blu-ray player, so if you’re after a fast light-weight laptop but aren’t stressed by the absence of an optical drive then Dell’s Studio 14z may be an option for you. Here are the rest of the specs on the 14z

* Intel® Pentium™ Dual Core T4200 (2.0GHz/800Mhz FSB/1MB cache)
* Genuine Windows Vista® Home Premium Edition SP1, 64-Bit
* 14.0” High Definition (720p) LED Display
* 3GB Shared Dual Channel DDR3 at 1066MHz
* 250GB SATA Hard Drive (5400RPM)
* NVIDIA® GeForce® 9400M G
* Dell Wireless 1397 802.11g Half Mini-Card
* 56 Whr Lithium Ion Battery (6 cell)
* 13.23 x 1.22 x 9.02 inches
* 1.95 kg

And all this for a very respectable US$650. Dell offer a portable CD/DVD-RW drive with the Studio 14z for a mere $90 if you must absolutely have an optical drive. Plus the 14z is available in a range of colours from Ruby Red through to, err, Promise Pink. Actually moving away from the standard Black option will cost you an extra $40 but who wouldn’t do that to be able to say they have a Plum Purple laptop.

After a plethora of under-powered laptops around, it’s nice to see Dell offering a slimline option that doesn’t skimp on processing power and still has a reasonable price tag with it.

Source: Dell

Asus unleash midrange K40 Series notebook

Saturday, May 16th, 2009

Asus K40IN notebook

Known more for their petite netbooks, Asus have launched a distinctly middle of the road notebook for us. The Asus K40 Series K40IN-A1 sports 4 GB of memory along with a 14 inch 1366 x 768 display. Like we said distinctly mid-range, however if you’re a kind of average person then read on

* 14 inch Wide Screen LED backlight 1366 x 768 res display
* Windows Vista Home Premium OS
* Intel Core 2 Duo T6400 2.0GHz CPU
* 4GB DDR2 RAM
* 320GB HDD
* DVD Super Multi Optical Drive
* NVIDIA GeForce G102M 512MB DDR2 VRAM Integrated Graphics Card
* 13.4 x 9.5 x 1.5 inches
* 5.3 lbs
* 10/100/1000Mbps LAN connectivity
* 802.11b/g/n Wi-Fi connectivity
* 4 USB and 1 VGA ports
* Internal Speakers
* SD, MMC, MS card reader
* 6-cell lithium ion battery

Fortunately the price tag is average too at US$850 over at NewEgg. So if you’re kind of an ‘Average Joe’ then the K40 may just the laptop you’re after.

ASUS G70 gaming laptop

Monday, May 5th, 2008

Asus G70 laptop

Asus have just launched an awesome gaming laptop, the G70. This puppy sports a fantastic range of specs from dual HDDs through to a full HD 17 inch display, ideal for all you mobile gaming fans out there. Check out the full spec list

* two independent Nvidia 8700M GT graphics engines using SLI technology and 1024MB GDDR3 of dedicated physical memory
* two drive bays for up to 640 GB of storage
* choice of Intel Core 2 Duo and Core 2 Extreme processors
* 17 inch WUXGA 1920×1200 res HD display
* DDRII 533/667MHz, up to 4GB
* 4 built in speakers
* DVD Super-Multi Light Scribe/ Blu-Ray Reader/ Blu-Ray RW (optional)
* Built-in 2.0 Mega-pixel camera
* 10/100/1000, 802.11a/b/g/n, Bluetooth connectivity (optional)
* 433 x 314 x 49mm
* 4.8 kg
* 8 cell battery pack

Stopped drooling yet? Yeah, this little sucker looks like the business, unfortunately there’s no indication of price that we can find, but it ain’t gonna be cheap. But then gamers tend not to worry about that too much if the machine meets their requirements and we would imagine that the G70 does just that for most of the gamers out there.

Source: Asus